Three women accused of terrorism acquitted by Mombasa court

October 11, 2018 3:12 pm

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Ummulkheir Sadri Abdalla, Khadija Abubakar Abdulkarim and Halima Aden were arrested on March 27, 2015 in Elwak on allegations that they were sneaking into Somalia to join the Al Shabaab terror group/CFM NEWS

By CORRESPONDENT, MOMBASA, Kenya, Oct 11 – Three women who were accused of 20 terror-related charges, including being members of al Shabaab have been acquitted for lack of evidence by a Mombasa court.

Ummulkheir Sadri Abdalla, Khadija Abubakar Abdulkarim and Halima Aden were arrested on March 27, 2015 in Elwak on allegations that they were sneaking into Somalia to join the Al Shabaab terror group.

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They were charged before the Mombasa Magistrate’s Court with 20 charges including being Al Shabaab members, collecting and holding information on terrorism and organising terror trainings among others.

In his verdict, while releasing the three, Mombasa Chief Magistrate Evans Makori said the prosecution could not provide sufficient evidence against the accused.

Makori said the prosecution’s evidence was based on the videos found on the suspects mobile phones. The videos are said to be showing terror related activities.

However, he said that was not a proof enough that the three were members of a terrorist organisation.

He also said the prosecution failed to give the identity of the people the accused were communicating with via mobile phones in Somali from Kenya.

A fourth suspect in the matter, Maryam Said Aboud, died in May this year and was buried in Malindi.